The three Shadow Guards exchanged a glance, then abruptly rose and dropped to one knee, saying in unison, “We swear to protect the General and Madam with our lives!”
Cheng Yao was startled by their sudden movement and chided them, “What are you doing? You’re so badly injured, yet you’re still putting on these pointless formalities!”
The three Shadow Guards smiled bashfully in unison.
Song Ze said, “Madam, please rest assured. We know how to keep our mouths shut. We would rather die than reveal a single word we shouldn’t.”
Cheng Yao froze for a moment before remembering that, in her panic to treat their wounds, she had displayed things that could not possibly exist in this world.
They were pledging their loyalty to her.
Cheng Yao smiled. “The things I have, and the way I treat people, are indeed rather unusual. You must help me keep them secret, all right?”
“Madam, rest assured, we—”
“Enough.”
When she heard Shadow One attempting to pledge his loyalty again, Cheng Yao interrupted him. “I know you’re all fiercely loyal, and I trust you. There’s no need to say more. For now, just eat properly, all right?”
The three men nodded obediently.
Seeing that they were still somewhat restrained, Cheng Yao walked over to the side and took a flatbread for herself as well, while pondering what path she should take from here on.
The three Shadow Guards were genuinely famished. They tucked the dried beef into their clothes to save for later, then began devouring the meat pies.
The crisp crust crackled loudly with every bite. Hot, savory juices burst across their tongues, while the finely textured filling, marbled with fat and lean meat and infused with the fragrant spice of black pepper and onion, practically melted without needing to be chewed.
In a word—delicious!
The three Shadow Guards ate until their mouths gleamed with grease. Even the meat juices on their fingertips were too precious to waste, and they licked them clean.
As the food’s energy slowly replenished their nearly exhausted bodies, an indescribable warmth quietly welled up in their hearts.
Madam was truly wonderful!
Shadow Three, the youngest of them and the one with the lightest injuries, secretly glanced at Cheng Yao several times. A faint blush spread across his face.
He licked the grease from the corner of his mouth. As though gathering all the courage in the world, he asked in a tiny, hopeful, bashful voice, “M-Madam… do you happen to have any more of that cream… little cake?”
Huh?
For an instant, even the mountain wind seemed to fall silent.
Shadow One and Shadow Two whipped their heads toward Shadow Three, their eyes filled with shock and speechlessness, as if asking, Are you sure you haven’t lost too much blood and damaged your brain?
Cheng Yao was stunned as well. Looking at the youth’s innocent, bashful face, she nearly burst out laughing.
They were in the middle of a desolate wilderness, having just survived a life-and-death battle amid rivers of blood, and he was asking for a little cake? The contrast was so bizarre it was almost comical.
Looking into Shadow Three’s bright eyes, filled with such pure longing, Cheng Yao suddenly remembered that this young Shadow Guard was only sixteen or seventeen years old. In the modern world, he would still be a high school student who loved sweets.
Her heart softened, and a helpless yet gentle smile appeared on her face.
Honestly, when had this boy started eyeing her little cakes?
She reached into her “bundle” once more and, using it as cover, took a neatly packaged, exquisite little tiramisu cake from her space. She handed it to him.
“It isn’t the cream-flavored one from the other day. Do you still want it?”
“Yes!”
Shadow Three’s eyes instantly lit up, shining like they were filled with stars. He accepted the precious little cake in both hands, his face flushing with excitement.
“Thank you, Madam! Thank you, Madam!”
But instead of eating it, he carefully tucked it into his clothes.
Cheng Yao raised an eyebrow. “You can’t bear to eat it? Cake doesn’t keep well, so you need to eat it soon.”
Shadow One and Shadow Two, green with envy, glared at him. “It’s only a piece of cake. Why are you acting so stingy?”
Shadow Three blushed, then carefully took the cake back out. With clean fingers, he opened the package and scooped a little into his mouth.
The cake was soft, rich, and sweet, with the wonderful flavors of coffee and cocoa. He closed his eyes in bliss, as though even the pain from his wounds had been healed in that instant.
Shadow One and Shadow Two shook their heads helplessly at his pathetic display.
Yet the corners of their tightly pressed lips loosened ever so slightly.
That boy had always loved sweets. Two days ago, when he had seen Madam and the others eating cream cakes, he had craved them terribly after catching the sweet aroma.
Now that he had finally tasted the food he had been longing for, they were happy for him too.
Cheng Yao turned to the other two. “What? Don’t you like cake?”
The two men froze. Then wild joy surged into their hearts.
“Madam, can we have some too?”
Cheng Yao curved her lips into a smile. “Why wouldn’t you?”
Shadow Two murmured awkwardly, “Such a delicacy… giving it to rough men like us feels a little wasteful.”
Though that was what he said, his eyes remained fixed on the cake in Shadow Three’s hands, filled with longing for the delicious treat.
“If even you aren’t worthy of eating it, then no one in this world is,” Cheng Yao said. She rummaged through her “bundle,” took out two little cakes identical to Shadow Three’s, and handed them over.
“Here you go, brave warriors.”
Shadow One and Shadow Two were so delighted that their hearts bloomed and their blood surged with excitement.
Madam had called them brave warriors!
Madam had given them little cakes!
Madam was being so kind to them. Would the General be jealous?
…
When Cheng Yao returned to the group, Zhan Haoting’s gaze followed her, his deep eyes impossible to read.
She possessed medical skills bordering on the miraculous, an inexhaustible supply of strange goods, and things that were completely out of place in this world…
Who exactly was she?
“Eldest Sister-in-Law.”
Feng Xianxian hurried over.
Her hair had come loose, and her dress was stained with mud and blood. One arm hung at an unnatural angle, while her face was filled with the terror of having narrowly escaped death—and a strange resentment.
“Fifth Aunt, Uncle Eleven, Grandmother, and my mother are all in critical condition. You have to save them quickly!”
Without waiting for Cheng Yao to speak, she continued, “After the earthquake, no one knew where you had gone. If you’d come back sooner, you definitely could have saved more people! No, that’s not right. You saw all those injured people lying around and still left again. You clearly chose to stand by and watch them die!”
There was accusation in Feng Xianxian’s sobbing, as though all those who had died or been injured had suffered because of Cheng Yao.
The surviving members of the clan also turned complicated gazes toward Cheng Yao.
Some were still shaken, some numb, and some had been stirred into resentment by Feng Xianxian’s words.
Cheng Yao let out a mocking laugh. “Third Sister-in-Law, do you take me for Guanyin, the goddess who saves all those in distress? Just because you tell me to save someone, does that mean I can? What am I supposed to use?”
Feng Xianxian urged her anxiously, “What about the medicine you gave those men in black? Take it out at once!”
Cheng Yao thought Feng Xianxian was nothing more than a coward who bullied the weak. When the Shadow Guards had been there, why hadn’t she dared to come over and demand medicine so boldly?
She put on an expression of appropriate exhaustion and helplessness. Her voice was not loud, but it carried clearly to everyone present.
“I’ve already handed out all the medicine. There’s none left.”
She did indeed have the ability to save more people. Her space contained an ample supply of medicine and medical equipment.
But with everyone watching, how could she explain medical supplies that far surpassed the technology of this era?
Once exposed, she would receive no gratitude. She would be branded a demon, and her fate would be far worse than exile.
Feng Xianxian’s eyes darkened. “If the medicine is so scarce, why did you give it to those servants instead of us?”
